The forum’s title is telling. “A Greater Vision,” along with imagination, is sorely needed to forge a path through the conflicts that surround water quality in the Salinas Valley.

Thursday’s forum at California State University, Monterey Bay brings together some of the most highly regarded experts on water quality along the Central Coast as well as the Central Valley where water quality issues are equally perplexing. The forum is the third and final discussion in the “Greater Vision” water quality series.

Problems with water quality in the Salinas Valley date back years, if not decades. Runoff from pesticides and excess nitrogen from fertilizer have damaged water systems. Fortunately many of the modern pesticides break down quickly – called half life – before they leach into the groundwater relied upon as drinking water up and down the valley.

Nitrogen, on the other hand, converts to nitrate through a biological and chemical process in the soil. Nitrate is associated with human health problems, particularly in infants where research has shown it is a cause of “blue baby syndrome” where it affects the ability of cells in the blood to carry oxygen to the body. It does not break down and has polluted groundwater from Castroville to King City.

In some areas, such as one hot spot near Gonzales, the nitrate levels in groundwater are multiple times greater than the limits set by state and federal regulators.

The question becomes “what to do about it?” Growers balk at rules governing runoff – called an Ag Waiver – because of the labor, costs and variables involved in monitoring nitrate runoff. Yet the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control just passed a new Ag Waiver – upheld on appeal to the State Water Board last month – that places more responsibility and limits on farmers to control their nitrogen applications.

Whether that is good or bad depends on which side of the conflict you are on. Environmentalists and health advocates say the waiver does not go far enough to protect both humans and wildlife. It’s livelihood versus environment and it’s a tough nut to crack, which is why bringing together renowned experts to envision new solutions in a neutral academic setting is so important, said Marylou Shockley, chairwoman of CSUMB’s College of Business.

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Shockley noted that the forum will serve dual purposes: providing students with a better understanding of the issue, and “hopefully reconciling different points of view.

“These things move in inches,” she said. “If we can move this forward a few more inches, then the community will have benefitted.”

Marc Los Huertos, associate professor of science and environmental policy at CSUMB and a speaker at Thursday’s forum, has spent years researching ways to reduce nitrate contamination while at the same time allowing growers to make a living. On one farm just outside of Salinas, Los Huertos has an ongoing experiment where runoff from field irrigation is collected and filtered through a tile drain sump and then released onto a bed of construction-waste wood chips. The carbon in the chips reacts with much of the nitrate before it is released to percolate down into groundwater basins.

Los Huertos’ experiment is one of dozens being conducted in the Salinas Valley, with cooperation of growers, to find solutions to the problem. Richard Smith, a scientist with the University of California Cooperative Extension, is conducting field trials near Gonzales on a new technology that in effect encapsulates nitrogen in fertilizer in tiny plastic balls. The balls act like time release capsules, allowing a controlled amount to be released that will be in equilibrium with the amount of nitrogent the plant needs (in Smith’s trials the crop is baby spinach).

These scientific and policy solutions are the target of the forum, where all sides contribute to new thinking and new processes to improve the water quality along the Central Coast.

“It will provide our students with thoughts and reflections that will benefit them in class, while also connecting this important issue with the community,” Shockley said.

Dennis L. Taylor writes about science, environment and agriculture for The Salinas Californian. Follow him on Twitter @taylor_salnews.